Private Buried Truth

[Persephone Dashiell]

BELAZURA

​

Persephone was surprised to be on a planet well regarded as a tourist destination. Very temperate, very wealthy, and a glittering jewel in the reaches of space. It looked somewhere where her family would go on vacation rather than a place of scholarly learning. Yet here she was, visiting the closed-off dig site of Doctor Anet Raine .Persephone was vaguely familiar with her work - a woman who had studied Sith and Dark Jedi early in her historical career. A woman from a wealthy and high-status family. Persephone definitely saw some of herself in the woman. Someone to look up to.

As far as Persie knew, the Doctor didn't take on private students. She only got here due to her adoptive parents spending a large sum of credits to fund Doctor Raine's next project. There had even been a sizable 'donation' to the woman's alma mater, where there may now be enough funds for a new wing of the Raine Library.

Unlike others, Persie grew from nothing and was thankful her family even had the means to grease the wheels. Even if it meant she was getting an 'unfair advantage' it didn't affect her entry to the University of Agamar, given the woman wasn't faculty.

By her side, her security guard/personal assistant droid scanned the area. Always looking for threats. Not that Persephone was concerned, it didn't seem many were interested in the site. According to all her reports there was unseen security ensuring nothing left the site and fell into the wrong hands. Squaring her shoulders, Persie squared her shoulders and began walking up the hill.

 

[Anet Raine]

Persephone Dashiell

Oh, Belazura...

Love-hate barely described the toxic relationship she had with her homeworld. Beautiful, idyllic in every sense of the world, and a rotoscope of hellish memories no matter where she looked.

It felt like divine punishment - even she could believe in such a thing - that the universe would deign to place her obsession back home, at the site of an ancient ruin, where a dark side cult once gathered, long before the era of the Sith. If that alone wasn't a burden enough, then it was the fact that she had to sacrifice peace of mind just this once.

Apparently, the senior faculty at Shey Tapani decided she just had to take a little girl under her wing.

Brilliant, one called her. A prodigy, said another. Our hands are tied... admitted the most pragmatic of the three.

Anet was no stranger to the meddling of wealth and academic politics, but that didn't mean she had to abandon her hypocrisy. She didn't like it one bit. But... she accepted it.

The half-pantoran arrived in a march to intercept the girl's approach; a woman on a mission. Back straight, footwork proper, and jaw tight. Disdain seethed through the fakest of smiles. She didn't even try to sell it, but her tone did. Anet was a master at sounding pretty when she felt dreadful.

"You must be Miss Dashiell, yes?" She confirmed.

Her eye drifted to the girl's companion. Anet disliked droids, but that was mostly because she had come to rely on them for all her digsites. A necessary evil, as far as she believed, but tediously flawed when you spent enough time around them.

They walked together up the hill, where at the top they could both see down into the site below. Much of it had already been excavated, and it was in surprisingly good shape for its age. Often was the case where the Force was concerned. Time was ever reluctant to grow deaf to its echoes.

She looked sidelong at Persephone. "Do you even know what we're looking at?" A hint of accusation lurked inside her words.

Anet didn't believe in the teenager's prospects one bit. Such a cynic.

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

Persephone held out her hand in greeting. No idea if Doctor Raine was going to take it but it was good manners on her part. Just not everyone in the 'verse used the same greeting, so she wasn't going to be overly offended.

"Persephone, yes. A pleasure."

It truly was. Persephone liked getting out and seeing new dig sites. Normally she was alone so actually visiting a real site overseen by a professional was a real treat. There was quite a bit to learn but the question was if Doctor Raine was going to impart any wisdom on her. She already looked annoyed. Persephone didn't think she had been late but maybe she was. Or the Doctor really didn't want to bother with her. A myriad of reasons and she wasn't going to dwell on it.

"Not quite, no." Persephone was less familiar with this area. "I am going to assume a Jedi ruin that was in the cross hairs during the Battle of Belazura ages ago. Buried quite deep so obviously predates that battle."

Persephone shrugged.

"Just guessing. What is it?"

Anet Raine ​

 

[Anet Raine]

Persephone Dashiell

Anet threw up her hand dismissively at Persephone's - there would be no handshake.

Though she was pleasantly surprised at the girl's attempt to unravel the truth. It showed an astuteness that betrayed her inexperience. Still, she was wrong, but that was to be expected, for regarding this site as obscure was an understatement.

The scholar waved the girl along and descended downhill. "Careful, Belazura is known for its loose soil."

It was a beautiful grassland, however. From the hill, they could see fields of flowers in a myriad of colors to provoke an artist's envy. The weather was perfect, like a mild summer day, with only a light breeze and scattered clouds.

"The Force is troublesome for academics like us. It has a way of defying expectations."

Droids worked at the bottom, carefully excavating more of the site and erecting scaffolding to allow a deeper examination of the ruins. When they reached the outer stones, Anet placed her hand on one of the exposed pillars. It had certainly been chipped down, but the block remained sturdy.

"Take a look at this stone," she said while leaning in for a closer look. "We can learn a lot from it - maybe where it came from. Stone is unique like that, kind of like a fingerprint." Her annoyance faded, for the moment.

Anet looked over to her side at Persephone. "What else can we learn from the stone?"

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

No handshake in return. No real greeting at all. Rude but Persephone didn't let it ruffle her feathers.

Following along silently in the soft soil, she did enjoy the weather. Something about a slight breeze dancing through her hair, causing the tall grass and flowers to wave. She could easily see how this was a tourist destination. Maybe she would come back on her own and visit once this was over, see a different side of the galaxy.

Rocks? Persephone was confident on this one. Her adoptive father made his fortune on rocks - and he loved to talk about it. Obsessively. Naturally some of the information had rubbed off on her at one point or another. After all, it is what paid her allowance to fund her fashion habit.

"Carved gratenite. Imported. Not native to this region. If you look closely you can see the striations of the natural cliff face, just the natural color variations from eons of being formed. I couldn't tell you what region though, or the age. I do know this is a very sturdy choice. Someone wanted this here long after the original vision was gone."

Shoulders shrugged.

"Which could be a mark of pride and vanity of not wanting to be forgotten...or someone anticipated for future trouble. Given its Jedi based, probably vanity."

Anet Raine ​

 

[Anet Raine]

Persephone Dashiell

Anet had never checked the teen's background. Had she known, she might have been less impressed by the girl's shrewd answer, but only a little. It was precise and descriptive knowledge. Too on the spot to be recited, which meant she knew what she was talking about. That earned some more goodwill from Raine, whether or not Persephone knew or cared for it.

"I couldn't tell you what region either," Anet answered.

She was not a geologist, and had yet to request one... She was weird that way, and it often drew ire and controversy from the University. Academics were meant to collaborate - 'selfishness was a stain on intellectualism,' or so her old proctor once said.

The half-pantoran smirked when Persephone supposed that Jedi were vain. Oh, how Anet agreed...

"I can tell you how old." Well, based on the site anyway. It was always possible that some of the stonework was added at a later date, but given that it matched the rest of the structure, that was doubtful. Arrogant, perhaps, but Anet went with her assumptions as if they were fact.

The scholar bent down and placed a pale hand on the stonework. "Predates the Manderon, either before or during the second schism.

"And you're right - someone did want this here for a long time, and it seems they chose their stone well, but..."

She straightened herself and sidestepped a lumbering droid, walking deeper within the dig site towards an excavated entrance.

"What is unusual to me is how intact the structure is for its age. There is more at work here than excellent masonry."

The facade was dressed with unusual carvings. Less hieroglyphic, and more like a tapestry committed to stone. A weathered and broken scene of strange objects appearing before a world. Robed figures armed with swords who appeared to walk across supine beings. A common symbolism found throughout many cultures and history, usually representative of conquest and authority, but peculiar nonetheless.